Share this story

Microsoft quietly rolled out a new way for business customers to buy Surface hardware yesterday: the Surface Membership Plan.

Spotted first by Paul Thurrott, the scheme allows Surface hardware, from the Atom-powered Surface 3 all the way up to the Surface Book, to be bought on a monthly price plan. The plan also includes the Surface service plan with accidental damage protection, offering repair and replacement for dropped or damaged hardware, and some amount of personal training. Prices range from $32.99/month for a bottom spec Surface 3 bought over 30 months, up to $220.99/month for a top spec Surface Book bought over 18 months. This works out at a premium of about $400-$500 as compared to buying the hardware and service plan outright.

Multiple systems can be bought through this scheme, allowing companies to buy a whole fleet of machines without requiring the initial up-front capital outlay, underscoring the business positioning of the payment plan.

At its launch, Microsoft's Surface hardware had a strong consumer focus, with even corporate customers having to buy through consumer-oriented sales channels. Since then, Microsoft has added additional business-oriented sales channels as it sought to move Surface beyond the consumer space and into the corporate world. This latest move further extends that reach into the enterprise space.

This reflects the Surface's own hardware evolution: from a device that was aimed squarely at consumers, it has been developed into a much more desirable, much more work-oriented system. Changes to the form factor made in Surface Pro 3 transformed the device from a bit of an oddity into a flexible device offering many of the strengths of both a laptop and a tablet, and this change has driven increased corporate interest.